


Chameleon

by VaultHuntress



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Bucky Barnes - Freeform, F/M, Mostly Fluff, Reader Insert, Remy LeBeau - Freeform, mcu - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-11
Updated: 2016-04-11
Packaged: 2018-06-01 14:03:57
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,929
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6522835
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VaultHuntress/pseuds/VaultHuntress
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A girl on the run from her past finds a home with the Avengers</p>
            </blockquote>





	Chameleon

**Author's Note:**

> Chapter one is named after the song (which is included in the text) Kiss Me Before I Fucking Lose My Mind by Charlie Puth. Remy LeBeau is mentioned because he is bae and part of his story is kind of included. There's so many fics about the Thieves Guild and what few there are about their rivals, are just Rogue AUs where she's in the Assassins Guild or a bit of Belladonna Boudreaux's background.  
> Y/N: Your Name  
> Y/L/N: Your Last Name  
> Y/H/C: Your Hair Color  
> Warnings: some swearing (obvious by the chapter title), probable butchering of the French language (sorry I know so little and go by google)

_"For the last three years  
I just hid it so well  
Hoping that you'd figure it out because I never could  
Tell it straight to your face."_  
I sang the lyrics that were blasting through my earphones, dancing through the hall on my way to the Tower's library.  
 _"Never have I ever  
Woken up in a cold hard sweat  
From a dream wondering if you'd say goodbye  
If I didn't say it first."_

The rest of the team was on a mission, and to distract myself from worry, I was planning on blasting my music and reading a pile of books since I couldn't be on the mission with them. I had gotten injured on my last mission, and though I was mostly healed, my team had ordered me to stay behind and finish healing. I understood, but unfortunately not being able to fight with them left me antsy--and they'd only just left a few hours ago! The bright side was that I wasn't alone. Natasha had informed me of that before she left, but Steve had called her away before I could question her. I assumed maybe Thor, since he had to rush to Asgard fairly often these days.  
When I got to the library, I had FRIDAY blast my music through the speakers before I set to work exploring the shelves to decide what to read today. (And probably for the next several days). _"I'm done playing these games  
I can't believe what I'm about to say  
I won't tell you goodbye with my love left behind  
Kiss me before I  
Fucking lose my mind."_

I pushed a strand of Y/H/C behind my ear as I sang the lyrics to the Charlie Puth song, my mind drifting to the man for whom I held affections. Steve and Sam had found him just after I joined the team, and I tried to help them with Bucky's recovery as much as I could. But then The Avengers and other heroes split in the fight we now referred to as the Civil War. I loved Tony like an older brother, but I knew he was wrong. So I sided with Steve. Once Tony came to his senses, and the team got back together and slowly repaired itself, Bucky worked on healing himself and joined the team officially. There were still tensions for a while, and not just with the Avengers, with other heroes as well, but we got past it.  
Bucky got his memories restored thanks to Steve and the Cosmic Cube (long story), and for the most part, his old self. He still held a lot of regret for the things he did as the Winter Soldier, but in the past few years he's done well at forgiving himself. We still reminded him often that he wasn't in control back then; HYDRA was. But now he, Bucky Barnes, was the one in control.  
He may not know it, but just as I tried to help him, Bucky helped me. Not just with fighting techniques, but also with my own self blame and hatred. I came to the Tower broken, though not as badly as he and some of the others. I used to be an assassin in the infamous Assassins Guild back in New Orleans. To this day, I'm certain the Guild has people after me. But SHIELD gave me a new identity and new purpose; and my shifting abilities mean that even though we're seen by press often, no one back home will know it's me.  
I was born into that life. Growing up, I'd always dreamed of normalcy. I wanted to be someone who lived outside the Guild, oblivious to the rivals between thief and killer. My best friend Remy was part of the Thieves Guild, son of the patriarch Jean-Luc LeBeau. He was a mutant himself, and the only person from my past that I had seen in the past five years since joining SHIELD and the Avengers. I'd learned quickly that he'd been exiled from our home town and was part of the X-Men in upstate New York now.  
Being part of the Assassins Guild, which many thought was a part of myth, meant I had to do many terrible things.  
 _My friendship with Remy came with certain perks. Like his passing on some of his thieve's training to me. It was technically against Guild policy, but we figured there was no harm; after all, when he married Belladonna Boudreaux, daughter of the Assassin Patriarch, our Guilds would be united. He helped me learn some pickpocketing and helped me more with my stealth._  
 _That, paired with my powers manifesting, helped me quickly rise in ranks with my training, and once more when I became a full member. My powers meant I could not only change my appearance at will, but I could also camouflage myself into the background. I also had a sort of natural protection from telepaths, though I wouldn't discover this until I joined SHIELD. I played along for years, knowing that for not only my own safety, but also my parent's safety, I could not let slip even a bit that I didn't want to be a part of the Guild anymore._  
 _My misery only grew when I learned that my parents had years ago arranged my marriage to the brother of Belladonna, Julien. That was when I gave myself little moments of happiness by planning different ways to escape the Guild. My chance came the night after I turned nineteen, a few nights before my impending matrimony, when I was partnered with my fiance for a mission. It was a night that I constantly relived in my nightmares, and the night I couldn't help the twisted thankfulness I felt for it. It confirmed my suspicions that something was not quite right with Julien as well._  
 _We quickly sneaked through the house of our target-some sort of politician. Julien guarded the door of the man's bedroom as I got the job done, watching for possible security. As we were making our way out, I heard him whisper, a dark undertone in his voice. "Chere."_  
 _I stopped and turned back to where he was standing, looking through a now open bedroom door. I frowned as I looked through the darkness to see the outline of a small child, only slightly illuminated by the nightlight on his wall. "I t'ought yo' said de man had no famille, Julien," I hissed, but his reply was a simple shrug accompanied by a dark smile. "Julien, no!"_  
 _He turned his evil smile to me, "Cain't leave no witnesses, Chere."_  
 _I shook my head, searching my brain for a way to stop him. "De petite ain't a witness, Cher. Let's jus' go home, ouias? I make yo' feel better at home." I internally cringed at the thought of making him feel better._  
 _He shook his head and stepped forward. That's when everything moved in slow motion. He shot just milliseconds before I did; he at the child, me at him. My heart pounded in my ears as I saw he didn't miss the boy. Of course he didn't miss. I'd aimed to incapacitate him, and he was now clutching his shoulder, a stream of curses falling from his lips-both English and French. He pulled his pistol on me and I quickly knocked him out before I turned and ran, never looking back even as I left the state._

 

I spent the next couple years taking up the odd thieving and mercenary jobs when I settled on New York as my new home. I changed my appearance, got a new tattoo to cover the Guild Crest on my forearm, and came up with a new alias. It wasn't until SHIELD finally found me that I felt true safety. They helped train me out of my Cajun accent and gave me a new name, Y/N Y/L/N. Marcelline Beauchamp was left in Louisiana, for all intents and purposes, dead.

 

I'd found camaraderie with the Avengers; though my past wasn't as dark as some of theirs, I related to some of them in a way. Natasha and Clint quickly became my best friends, and I was even getting a bit closer to Bucky. I didn't really open up about my past much. For their own safety I only gave them the minor details. That Y/N wasn't my real name, and I was a highly trained assassin and thief. They understood (minus Clint, who sometimes tried to guess my name); we all had our secrets.  
Another of mine was that I was in love with the man with the piercing blue eyes and metal arm. And damn, did I have it bad. Dieu merci for my training. Because I was able to keep a neutral expression on my face when needed, no one knew. Bucky couldn't find out. What if it ruined our friendship?  
 _"No, no more nights  
Drink until my loneliness  
Up until 2 A.M."_ Even if every time he brought a new girl to the Tower it killed me inside, he couldn't know. So I usually drank with Thor or Tony and Pietro.  
I roamed the library, still working on the pile of books, and singing along.  
 _"No, no more waiting  
Pacing 'round the bar  
Hoping that you might walk in."_  
I decided to get plenty of books to read for the next few days and make a bit of a book nest in the corner. I danced around and sang, unaware of the eyes that were on me, a brow raised on the face as I thought about Bucky.  
 _"For the last three years I just hid it so well  
Hoping that you'd figure it out because I never could  
Tell it straight to your face.  
Never have I ever woken up in a cold hard sweat  
From a dream wondering  
If you'd ever say goodbye  
If I didn't say it first."_  
I frowned, stopping as the chorus went on and muttered to myself. Maybe Charlie had a point to all this.  
 _"I'm done playing these games_  
I can't believe what I'm about to say  
With my love left behind  
Kiss me before I  
Fucking lose my mind."  
As I pondered the lyrics, and maybe telling Bucky how I felt, the lyrics faded into a much more upbeat tune and I rounded the next shelf. I jumped in surprise upon seeing a masculine back covered in a hoodie. The hood was up, so I couldn't properly see the back of the man's head. Whoever it was seemed to be caught up in the pages of a book. I smirked to myself, thinking it must have been Clint left behind with me, and not Thor as I had originally thought. Thor of course, was taller than this man, who was Clint's height. With those clues and my smirk growing, I quietly set my books down on a near shelf and tiptoed up to the man. My smile grew and swung my hand back, landing a smack on his ass as I exclaimed, "Hey Bitchface!"  
The man dropped his book in surprise and I gasped as I caught a glimpse of the metal hand. Shit. He turned, jaw open, and I felt my face heat up. "Merde! You're not Clint. Merde. Desole!"  
I pulled up my own hood and rushed away, grabbing my phone on the way out. I heard FRIDAY stop my music in the library, and ignored the blush on my face, certain I'd just left Bucky thinking I was surely insane.


End file.
